Treo 700p Spotted, Likely May/June Release

Rumor: A PalmInfocenter reader wrote in with an interesting find on the Treo 700p during a recent visit to a Sprint retail store. He asked around about the new Treo and was shown details on Treo 700p in Sprint's computer system.

So the story is our source visited a Sprint store this past Saturday. He asked their lead tech if he knew anything about the release of the Treo 700p. The tech pulled up a webpage from Sprint that not only had the Sprint part number for the 700p but also had a "May/June" release date indicated, which he let him see for himself.

Previous leaked details about the Treo 700p indicate it will run Palm OS Garnet v5.4.9. It features EVDO high speed data support, a 320x320 pixel display, 1.3 megapixel camera with a 1280x1024 max image resolution and 62.8 MB of free RAM.

Details on Source?

RE: Details on Source?

when it comes to rumors here on PIC we don't publish anything that can't at least be verified on some level. That said, I do think this is a reliable source.

This article is clearly labeled as a rumor and should be considered as such. Release dates and details on rumored models are always subject to change. However, if you scan though the previous PIC rumor archive I think you'll find that a good majority of them have been pretty accurate.

RE: Details on Source?

Hi,I dare to say that the only point of uncertainity here is the user who sent in the story.

At least in austria, the average tech store clerk has a TQ(Tech Geek Quotient) of 0, and in fact, I know of a pretty high gal in PalmOne customer care who does not own a Palm handheld herself(!!!). While the latter has the necceccary $$$ on the paycheck and received the necceccary amount of blahblah to understand an NDA; a poor student who never heard about how such a thing could be secret...um, you get what I mean!

Best regardsTam Hanna

P.s. I love having spare time to join in here and train my rhetorics...the arena is open;)

RE: Details on Source?

Great news

It's important for the Palm brand that Palm's flagship smartphone isn't dependent on wince... despite the best efforts of Palm's engineers, the essentially obsolete wince OS is a lousy platform for any device, let alone something at the high-end. :)

Customers demand stability and a broad range of applications, two things that wince has never delivered. Now that wince has been abandoned in favor of "vista mobile", I think it's safe to say those long-standing wince issues will never actually be resolved. :)

The 700p is great news for anyone who demands more from a high-end Palm device. :)

------"People who like M$ products tend to be insecure crowd-following newbies lacking in experience and imagination."

RE: Great news

RE: Great news

While I agree with some of Dr. O's sentiment about the merits of POS, he's treading into the sort of waters that causes such a ruckus recently on PIC. We need to keep the discussions calm, collected and relatively level-headed.

The constant smiley faces only serve to look like some smug chump goading the usual suspects into insult-hurling. And, for the record, so does calling people "moron", no matter how many smileys you preface it with.

we're ABOUT to have some real TREO news to discuss here, folks...let's hang in there until then and discuss shipping product, not personal allegiancess or fanboy affiliations.

RE: Great news

1. Customers demand stability and a broad range of applications, two things that wince has never delivered.

My answer, as someone with experience supporting literally thousands of devices. Palm OS has consistantly been buggy devices with constant resets and issues especially as we have gone along with PALM OS 5. Most of PalmOS's issues have been related to Blazer and versamail. Two applications that just can't be relied on to get any real work done. when you consider that PalmOS 4 was rock solid, Palm OS 5 particularly the recent editions has been abysmal.

Things are different in Windows Mobile. Not better, mind you, just different. Windows Mobile is in my view much improved in many respects. And I think have achieved parity. though more by palms regression than anything else.

If you want to talk stability, then Blackberries spank both Palm and Windows Mobile to death. Those things just work period.

Now that wince has been abandoned in favor of "vista mobile",

Now this is where the good doctor derails. Care to present any Proof that Microsoft is not going forward with Windows Mobile? If they don't they will torpedo their shot at taking down RIM, a stated company aim.

The 700p is great news for anyone who demands more from a high-end Palm device. :)

I agree, assuming ALL of the following issues have been fixed:Complete Over the air syncing via a fully implemented Exchange Activesync protocol in Versamail.Improved memory handeling in Blazer.

I will also say that fanboyizm and reverse FUD is NOT informative or helpful. Dr. O, we can have discussions, and it can be useful, but we are going to have to agree to base what we say in some form of verifiable reality.

RE: Great news

I have recently gone back to using by Treo 650 and loaded the latest ROM updates too. In the last two weeks I have had one reset to deal with (aside from the resets needed to load the ROMs update, that is). The reset did not occur while using either Blazer or Versamail - it happened in Messenger when I mistakenly tried to attach a movie to a MMS (I don't have any movies) - this caused a soft reset, but everthing was just fine after the Treo booted up again.

PS. Blazer seems to work better since the latest ROM update - it now loads big pages very well (but S-L-O-W). Blazer seems a tad faster since the update I guess, but that's not saying much - it's still pretty S-L-O-W.

PPS. My guess is that slowness with the Treo internet connection seems to be due to Blazer only. I was trying out PDAnet last weekend, using my Treo as a modem for the laptop. IE ran just fine and the speed was roughly the same as that for a dial-up line. Loading the same pages with Blazer was much slower (again, this is just my impression - didn't try to time it or anything). Must have something to do with the way Blazer renders pages I guess. Any comments, anyone?

These are just my personal experience, Ironhide - I don't look-after thousands of devices as you do - so if your experience differs, I defer to you.

RE: Great news

Now this is where the good doctor derails. Care to present any Proof that Microsoft is not going forward with Windows Mobile?

Don't bother reasoning with Doc Op. I've tried. He lives in his own little world where Microsoft's yearly reorganization is the harbinger of them folding up Windows Mobile. In this case, he's referring to a persistent fantasy of his that Microsoft is going to suddenly drop WM and start building nothing but micro-tablet PCs. This was "proven" (to him) by the hype campaign leading up the the soon-to-be-disasterous launch of Microsoft and Intel's poorly-thought-out micro-PC inititives, called "Origami" and "UMPC" respectively. In any event, he's basically just the Rush Limbaugh of PIC, saying ridiculous things that I'm not sure even he really believes.

RE: Great news

>>>>>Palm OS5 is stable, assuming you don't count versamail (and maybe Blazer) as part of the OS...

You're joking right? Pulease...frankengarnet itiration on the 650 is the buggiest piece of crap ever! And I'm a Treo fanboy admitting this!!!!!!! HEllO!!!!!!!!!!

I must be extremely lucky then, since my GSM Treo has reset itself only about 2-3 times since the last firmware update on 20 Jan.

On a complete side note, I've had the Nokia 9300 for exactly a week now, and about the only good things I can say about it is the multitasking and the stability. But this thing is going back to the store ASAP. I can't doesn't sync notes!

RE: GSM version?

My AT&T Wireless (now Cingular, ironically probably soon to be AT&T wireless again) Treo 600 has just started to malfunction...sometimes certain keys don't work or the touchscreen dies. A little jiggling and and it's back to normal. But I know I'm going to need to upgrade soon, and I really want it to be to the 700p and not the 650. PLEASE palm, get a GSM version out soon. By the way, anyone know the best way to get maintenance done on the Treo 600?

RE: GSM version?

Well, since it'll be nigh impossible to hack UMTS onto poor ol' FrankenGarnet, expect Europe to get nothing but 650 leftovers for the time being. There will likely be both a 700w GSM and a WinMob-powered Hollywood later this year. Those + the EVDO 700p will have to hold the fort until Palm either goes completely WinMob or someone delivers an ALP/Plinux solution.

RE: GSM version?

all kidding aside, you might try trading it in at your provider, for a refurbished unit, OR, finding an incredible deal on a 650 from your provider. Either one will probably be like $150, which might be as much as getting your 600 fixed! I have a 600, and waiting patiently for the 700p (I am with sprint). Since I didnt use bluetooth, and never use the camera, just sucked it up with the screen res, and stayed with the 600, hoping to leapfrog to the first evdo palm treo, if it ever happened. It looks likely now.

RE: GSM version?

xImtc, it sounds like you might have problems with the ribbon cables. If you can't replace it, you might want to try taking it to an electronics shop and seeing if they can tighten down the connections for you.

RE: GSM version?

The CFO of PALM said the other day that Europeans did not like the TREO form-factor, in particular the external antenna.

Thus we have a fairly good idea of what type of changes the "new" TREO will have will be making their debut Real Soon Now.

=========

As a somewhat-related aside - just signed up for Cingular and got a couple Sony-Ericsson Z520As (free) on the family plan. The phones' antennas are in the form of a belt-buckle-like loop along the top and are essentially nonobtrusive.

These guys radiate some serious directional power!

Anytime they interact with "the tower" my desktop computer speakers give off classic noise (*). When a call is getting set up - incoming or outgoing - YOW!

But just changing the orientation of the phone a little cuts down significantly on the picked-up signal - as does placing cupped hands around the phone.

==========

(*) A long time ago in a different much-more-interesting lifetime I built my home computers from chips, etc, as well as kit-boards (S-100-based CPM machine for those who care). I actually had sound capabilities on my first rocket. Since I was the one who programmed the boot-loader PROM I knew intimately what it did on startup.

And could follow the SOUND of the startup to know where things were going.

Or if the computer had crashed.

Often I used an AM radio since its antenna was designed to pick up radio frequencies rather than my sound board that simply was poorly shielded.

==========

Around the same time (maybe a year or two earlier) I visited an IBM location with a math class. The geeks there played us the song "Daisy" on their line printer...(by printing certain characters at certain timings one could get rough tones...).

#3 700p CDMA-Coming to Spring this May/June. Quite possibly going to no other carriers unless a subsequent GSM variant appears-and that's still not a lock for Cingular to pick it up. Well, Alltel might get some but they are not a nationwide presence. Verizon dislikes POS immensely and is content to keep pushing the 700w.

#4 Hollywood WinMob GSM-Coming first to "picky", style-conscious European carriers before later launching in other global markets & then in USA with Cingular or perhaps even T-Mob. Specs will be comparable to the 700w or possibly even a bit weaker. Hopefully they will at least work on the low RAM issue.

Summer '06: LifeDrive 2. Identical formfactor but with all of the LD's major bugs fixed. Still big, laggy, power hungry etc. 6gb MicroDrive and a $400 MSRP launch pricetag. Possibly more RealRam cache or a higher capacity battery but don't count on it. Also with Palm branding. Expect a limited production run for this one if only to try and save face from the LD1 debacle and utilize the warehouse full of leftover LD1 parts.

Fall '06: More than like it'll be a mildly refreshed TX2 (charging LED, BT 1.2, 416mhz CPU) in a similar formfactor & price. Or perhaps Palm will reelase a cheapie Z33 type Palm ($120-$150 MSRP) that's basically the Z22 with an SD slot and a headphone jack. Heck, they could do both as a final send off to POS!

RE: GSM version?

From all the rumors I've read at TC and Hofo's, I doubt there will ever be a "GSM" Treo 700 at all. From the looks of it, it appears the 700 will be a distinctly CDMA device competely separate from the GSM "Hollywood" Treo device. And if you think about it, it wouldn't make sense for Palm to have two different GSM models competing against each other. That not to say that the Hollywood won't have a lot of the same specs as the 700 (just perhaps a slightly thinner form factor), but the development of GSM vs CDMA Treo is significant enough for palmto designate two different code names and developmental teams.

In my opinion, there will be Two PalmOS Treo released this year and Two WM Treos. The 700w and Hollywood are the two WM Treos while the 700p is the only so far rumored Palmos Treo. However, like I stated above, many people beleive the 700p is actually the rumored Lowrider since Shadowmite stated that he found some files in the 700p rom that indicated that it might be the lowrider. If that is the case, then that would mean there is a yet to be annouced and rumored HIGHER end Palmos Treo that has not been revealed. I know this is totally far fetched at this point, but quite frankly I like this rumor the best! ;)

As Far as the rest of Palm lineup, there will be the Z72, TE3, Tx2, and LD2 with incremental upgrades all around...

RE: GSM version?

As I recall, one of Palm's statements said that of the three additional Treos coming this year, two were Palm and one was Windows. Stack that up however you like: 700p, Palm "Lowrider" and WM "Hollywood," or 700w GSM and 700p CDMA and GSM.

I would be shocked half to death if the 700 didn't come out in a GSM flavor.

RE: GSM version?

The European version will be the rumored "Hollywood" model. AFAIK, here is the breakdown of the various Treo models that are supposed to be released this year:

Treo 700w - already released WMTreo "700p" - CDMA version with specs listed aboveTreo "Hollywood" - WM, GSM, thinner, antennaless and targetted for European marketTreo "lowrider" - rumored low end palmos Treo. Some argue that 700p is actually the lowrider but this is debateable.

WTF!!!??Will I be *obliged* to go with a WM device if I wish to upgrade my GSM 650?? If I wanted a WM device I would already have bought the Imate K-Jam (which also has wifi). I can't believe I'll be "forced" to go with WM.

RE: GSM version?

According to the...diehards over at TreoCentral, Palm supposedly retracted that first statement and/or issued a 2nd followup statement saying that only one POS Treo was in the cards for this year. I don't recall ever seeing this comment here on PIC, however.

Being the eternal skeptic, I am going to go out on a limb and assume that 3 of the 4 Treos coming for '06 are WinMob powered .

Gfunk's optimism is refreshing but I just cannot see the CARRIERS justifying having two POS Treos. They'll either stick with what they have (if it ain't broke...) in the 650 until existing stocks are liquidated OR the carriers historically supportive of POS (Sprint and...Sprint) will go with a 700p which will be a slam-dunk for POS faithful looking for an upgrade. Otherwise, you have Verizon & the European GSM carriers who are decidedly anti-Palm for any number of reasons.

If there ARE two more POS Treos coming then it's almost certainly: GSM WinMob "Hollywood", 700p CDMA, 700p GSM.

Either way I think the chances of seeing the Lowrider entry level (Treo 600/Z22 hybrid) Treo are looking increasingly slim. When you can get a Razr for Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX

Working their way through, but still not quite there yet

Nice to see the Palm OS version of the treo is getting better and better. Still has a way to go before it would become my ideal PDA with integrated phone features.

A friend showed me his HP iqap and I gotta say i was impressed. Some WM2003 OS, 400MHz processor, GPS, 1.3MP still cam, flashlight (yes, a REAL flashlight, which is suppose to act as a limited flash for the digicam, but on it's own, makes a great spotlight and better than my T|T3 or his ipaq screen at max brightness), 10+ standby batt life, and Cingular service. He got it for $400. He was actually embarrased by it since he wants the next model succeding it, with somewhat better specs and WM5.

In hindsight, indications show I was moreso impressed b/c it had the generally superior hardware of PPCs, and not that it was a converged deviced. However, i've gotten too used to my T|T3's hi-res+ screen to go back to 'plain' hi-res that the treos have. At least if i were to switch to PPC, they have better selection of combo units, and some of them hasta have a VGA screen. I know Palm has it's own smartphones, but call me stubborn, it just ain't the same thing.

I've said before that I prefer segregated devices. My current cell phone, motorola v188 I was able to get for free, + free accessories. The store got me Tmobil with a $220 rebate on the plan itself, so I'm only paying $31/mo instead of $50/mo before fees and taxes. I've never been able to get such a great deal on cellphones for converged devices, but this deal will be off next time around, and I doubt any promo by the provider will ever be close to this good. All I can now is that if my T|T3 weren't such a kick-ass PDA, I could've seen myself going converged in the near future.

"Do you know the difference between an error and a mistake? Anyone can make an error, but that error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it."-Grand Admiral Thrawn

RE: Working their way through, but still not quite there yet

No point in downgrading to a converged device when you've gotten used to 320*480 (or better) on a T3 (or better) device. Simply too many compromises for those of us that actually use our devices for doing real work on such as text or e-mail editing, showing photos, reading e-books or any kind of web browsing.

If I go converged it'll be because Palm & the carriers have forced me to by discontinuing the higher-end Palm PDAs and continually stymying efforts by users to do BT DUN.

RE: More confirmation?

RE: More confirmation?

Sounds like the ol' m100/m505 multi colored trick is making a return appearance! LOOK at the amazing success of the pink & black RAZR. Palm will probably either launch the unit first in silver and then follow rapid-fire with a series of limited edition colors. Pink & blue ARE the new hues of choice for electronics it seems!

That's still 4-5 months later than it should've launched IMO but better late than never.

Now, can we care to wager if any new HANDHELDS are coming this spring or is Palm casting the old spring/fall release schedule into the wind. Might they only go forward with Treos this year? If nothing else, the T|E2 & LD are due for retirement/replacement/rebranding.

RE: More confirmation?

Yikes, I'd forgotten about that. I too don't quite see Palm doing colored Treos. That's more of a consumer market thing, and the Treo is a bit businesslike to pull it off, although it would be kind of cool.

RE: More confirmation?

Well, let's see....we had the stunning clear IIIe SE (I wanted one sooo badly but they were always more expensive than the standard IIIe so I went with that), the blue & red m505s as mentioned before, the Claudia Schiffer Vx and the Michael Jordan m100. (http://www.jondube.com/resume/msnbc/palmjordan.htm)

The Schiffer Palm was actually NICE looking (in a way) and may eventually be worth a small premium over a regular Vx.

And does anyone remember the colored Visor Edges? They came in red & blue in addition to the normal silver-and this was PRE-9/11 so they weren't trying to make a quick buck off of patriotism!

Hmm, then Sony had a few Clies in special editions---an orange T665 and a glossy black or glossy white/pink SJ30

Finally we had the ultimate in stylish Palms---the IBM WorkPads. BLACK anodized aluminum cases (Palm V & m500 rebadges). Again, I wanted one sooooo badly but they were hard to find and kinda costly if you didn't know an IBM employee who could hook you up.

Then there were all of those tacky m100 snap-on faceplates--perhaps that's what Palm is going to try with the new Treo?

RE: More confirmation?

Don't forget the stunning colored flip covers for the III series. Also, the Vx came in a light blue mettalic and gold as well. I actually owned four of the gold ones that I bought from Handango on a bulk closeout and sold for profit on Bay. Slight profit, b/c the m5xx got (infamously) announced like two days after their offering. Lucky for me (disasterous for Palm) the m5xx did not ship until a month later, so the Vx price stayed high until mine sold.

My first PDA was the IIIe with clear case. What a marvel. Used it about 15 minutes before shaking my head in amazement at how it was light years ahead of anything Win98 etc in actual functionality.

The Claudia Shiffer Vx was the best looking (not her either!) Palm ever IMO. I wanted one, but they were bringing a premium then, so I just stuck with the silver Vx.

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